Thursday, April 28, 2011

Marvelous Triple Action with Comic Book Rehab

I decided to just keep issues 1,5, and 6 of Batman Odyssey. Those issues have stuff I like, whereas the others...well, if the payoff to this is impressive, I'll consider picking up the trade. The story concerns Ra's Al Ghul playing maestro with Batman's career as a superhero, supposedly using the classic rogues gallery as his puppets in a drawn-out plan to make Batman the big piece in his global chess game. Maybe... That's where the bad reviews go - "If only Neal Adams had someone scripting his plots.." Well, maybe things would be clearer, but things are happening on a level too simple to demand it.

So, the book is a big turducken, but I find it no different than the hyped-up stuff that Grant Morrison has been doing with Batman in the last 5 years. Both projects are dwelling on the past, and both seem insubstantial enough for the next team to come along to try and ignore it for their own sake.

I thought Morrison spoiled his run off the bat by introducing Damien, Bruce's son from Mike W. Barr's so-so Son Of The Demon Graphic Novel, as an uber-spoiled tween - Jason Todd's worst moments redux. Then Morrison indulged in revisiting 50's Batman continuity, making mountains of half-baked concepts. I like Bat-Mite, but there's a diffrence between liking a character/status quo/design scheme and liking a story - those stories weren't really great.

Then what happens after the rock stars drop the mike and take off? We go back to Batman fighting ninjas, drug dealers, serial killers, and police stories and season-spanning crossovers. One good thing I can say about Odyssey is that it's just one book to follow - one source of whackiness to dip in.

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About Me

I like to write, I like to laugh, I like to draw, I like comic books, but that should be obvious..or maybe not, since a "Comic Book Rehab" is a strong name for a pop culture blog..trust me, it's all in the best of taste. :)